Atop the shattered husk of a forgotten building, amidst the debris of a war long lost to time, it stood, a waking nightmare clad in obsidian armor that drank in the moonlight like a void. A Midnight Warden.

"No... way..." someone whispered, the words barely audible.

The air shifted. It grew dense, oppressive, as if the night itself had paused to watch. Then it dropped.

The impact tore into the earth. Concrete split beneath its weight like brittle bone. Dust erupted in thick clouds. And just like that, the world changed.

Its head turned with mechanical precision, slow, deliberate, inevitable. Behind the visor, a red glow ignited. Steady. Sinister. Then came the roar. It wasn't just heard; it was felt, in the lungs, in the bones. A pressure wave of pure, feral rage that turned instinct to ice.

And then the Warden moved.

Gone in a blink. A blur. The space where it had stood was already empty.

The ground erupted as both fists slammed down like falling stone. The resulting shockwave detonated outward. Luke was launched, weightless for half a second, before crashing into a wall with bone-snapping force. Pain exploded down his spine. His breath vanished. He hit the ground and didn't rise. His fingers dug at the dirt, trembling, unresponsive.

Still, he looked up.

It was climbing from the crater, that impossibly massive form silhouetted in moonlight. One arm glistened, slick with fresh blood. Beneath it, a body lay mangled and motionless.

Luke's chest clenched. Who?

"Allison?!" he gasped.

"I'm okay!" she called out, strangled, pained, but alive.

Relief surged through him like breath returning to drowning lungs. But it didn't last. The Warden turned. Its weapon, more a pillar than a lance, rose into view. Impaled on its tip was Johnny, still alive, twitching, eyes wide, blood pouring from his mouth.

Arrows flew. Dozens. They struck the armor and bounced away. No dents. No cracks. Not even a scratch.

The Warden yanked Johnny free as if plucking a weed. Then flung him aside. The sound that followed was wet. Final. A crimson spray hit the wall.

Silence held for a heartbeat.

Then it moved again.

Appeared beside a swordsman. One strike. The man's chest caved inward. A mage raised his staff. Too slow. A blow shattered his skull like glass. Another turned to flee. A spear tore through his back, piercing clean through.

Luke hurled his kukris. Blades spinning, precise. They struck and bounced harmlessly away. The Warden didn't even look at him.

Angelica screamed and charged, her axe lit with red mana. She leapt, bringing the full force of her weight down on its helm. Metal rang. The Warden didn't budge.

Angelica rolled back, panting. "Everyone run! I'll hold it!"

It turned on her, expressionless behind that burning mask. She tried to parry, missed by a fraction. The shaft of the lance slammed into her chest. Her body sailed backward, slammed into a wall, and dropped limp.

An archer dropped to his knees, still firing through tears. Someone screamed, wordless, charging in desperation.

The Warden shifted, blinked, reappeared beside her. One thrust. The spear pierced clean through. Lifted her into the air. Then let her fall.

Massacre. Blood. Screams. Limbs.

Luke pushed forward, Dark Dash igniting in desperation, kukris ready. Almost there.

The Warden vanished.

Appeared behind him.

A crushing weight collided with his back. His ribs folded inward. He barely processed the second strike, fist to face, before the world spun.

Darkness. Then pain.

He gasped. Tried to crawl.

A boot slammed down. Bone cracked in his arm.

He screamed. The sound ripped from his lungs as his body shattered beneath the Warden's boot. His vision blurred, breathing turned ragged, and pain rippled through every nerve. But even through the haze, he saw her, Allison, charging toward the Warden with her katana drawn, the blade pulsing with mana. She leapt, silver steel arcing through the dark, colliding with obsidian metal. Then the air detonated.

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The shockwave from the Warden's fist blasted outward, launching her like a ragdoll. She crashed through stone and vanished into rubble.

The Warden raised its head and screamed, a sound so raw and consuming it crushed the air, rattled the bones, and shattered the night itself. Panic spread like wildfire. People ran. Screamed. Magic flared in every direction, wild, uncontrolled, desperate. A spear tore through the dark and another body fell, lifeless before it hit the ground. Some didn't even make it that far. They collapsed where they stood, frozen by a terror too deep to fight. Fear was killing them before the Warden could.

Luke staggered forward, one eye swollen shut, blood trickling from his mouth. His left arm was gone, sheared at the shoulder. But he didn't stop. He crawled, fingers scraping against broken stone until he reached her. Allison lay in a pool of blood, unmoving. The illusion was gone, no mask, no shadow double. It was really her.

He dropped to his knees, pressed two fingers to her neck. A heartbeat. Faint, unsteady, but real. She was alive.

Behind him, the chaos hadn't stopped. The Warden blinked from place to place, a phantom of death, appearing only long enough to kill. It wasn't fighting, it was exterminating.

Then Charlie emerged from the shadows, silent and composed. She lifted Allison with ease and draped her across Luke's back.

The Warden turned. It saw them. It advanced.

Luke's voice rasped, barely audible. "Charlie... buy us time."

She didn't hesitate. She stepped between them and the Warden, her armor flaring with spectral energy. The lance lunged. She caught it with her bare hands and twisted the blow aside.

Luke ran.

Allison on his back, her blood soaking through his shirt, his own wounds screaming. Dark Dash was useless, too risky. One wrong step and she'd vanish mid-blink. So he ran, dismissed his kukris and let them vanish, freeing his hands. Behind him, battle. Screams. Collisions. Stone shattered and fire hissed. Charlie fought alone.

Another impact sent her skidding across the street. She hit a wall, fell, but rose again. Broken. Still standing.

Luke didn't look back.

He sprinted through ruined streets, deeper into the Wild Zone, every step driven by survival instinct. Where could he go? The ruins? The cliffs? A hole in the ground?

No time. Just move.

Branches tore at his face. Roots caught his feet. The pain blurred, became distant. Then something sliced past behind him, a rush of air.

He turned.

A spear had pierced the space where he'd just been. It clipped his shoulder. He didn't scream. No breath left to waste.

Charlie reappeared in a blur of spectral light, clashing with the Warden once more. She fought for seconds. Precious, borrowed seconds.

Luke kept going. Past trees, broken stone, twisted roots. His legs burned. The weight on his back grew heavier. But he didn't stop.

Then sound.

Voices. Distant. Faint.

He followed it.

The forest began to thin. A cliff emerged ahead. Below, the Orc Forest. And beyond that, distant flickers of light.

The Safe Zone.

He turned, just in time to see it.

Red eyes between the trees. Towering. Steady. The Warden.

It stood beneath the moonlight, obsidian armor glinting like oil, shadows trailing its limbs like shackles. It stared at them, silent. And then it spoke.

Not with words.

With a roar that said one thing.

You don't get to leave.

Luke froze. His lungs locked. His heartbeat slammed against his ribs like a war drum. The Warden raised its spear.

This was it.

But then something moved in the trees.

Charlie stepped into the open. Barely. Her armor was shattered—cracked plates, dented joints, entire sections torn away. One arm was gone. Her skeletal frame trembled under the weight of her own body. But she walked. Each step a struggle. She placed herself between Luke and the Warden, raised her sword with trembling fingers. No words. No theatrics. Just duty.

The Warden roared. The forest bent under the force of it. Then it charged.

The spear lashed forward, a blur of death meant to end everything. Charlie held the line. Steel struck bone. Sparks lit the air. She was thrown, slammed, dragged. The ground broke beneath her body.

Luke tried to move. To rise.

But it wasn't a battle anymore. It was punishment. The Warden didn't want to win. It wanted to erase.

Charlie collapsed. Tried to stand.

A boot crashed down. Once. Again. Again. Until there was nothing left but broken pieces and silence.

A whisper from the System followed:

[Your servant Princess Charlie has been slain in combat]

Luke stopped breathing.

The Warden turned. Its faceless helm fixed on him. In a blink, it vanished—then reappeared at his side.

Impact.

The blow sent Luke flying. His skull cracked against stone. The world tilted sideways. Blood blurred his vision. Allison fell from his arms. She didn't move.

He tried to reach her. Too slow.

The Warden advanced. One step. Another. Its shadow swallowed her. The spear lifted.

Luke forced his body forward. Every nerve screamed. One last pulse of mana surged through him.

He vanished—reappeared in front of her. One arm. One blade. Demonic Blade Dance.

He slashed. The kukri carved through air and darkness—then steel. Sparks erupted. The edge connected. Not deep. Not clean. But it cut.

The Warden halted. Its body trembled. Then it screamed.

Not in pain. In rage.

Light ignited across its armor—red veins pulsing like molten fury beneath black iron. From its back, it drew a sword. Massive. Ancient. It throbbed with crimson energy, every pulse like the beat of something alive and angry.

Luke's thoughts fractured. He grabbed Allison. Pulled her into his arms. The Warden raised the sword.

The cliff cracked beneath them.

Luke didn't wait.

He ran. And jumped. Over the edge. Into darkness. Allison in his arms.

The world disappeared beneath them.

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